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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705246">Newspaper Clippings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovetodanceandshout/pseuds/lovetodanceandshout'>lovetodanceandshout</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Written Romance [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Book of Mormon - Ambiguous Fandom, The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, connor is in hamilton, kevin is a journalist, kevin went on his mission but connor didn't, the journalism/broadway au that nobody asked for</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:00:39</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,128</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25705246</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovetodanceandshout/pseuds/lovetodanceandshout</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor had never done something like this before. The extent of his interview experience stretched to a handful of job interviews prior to his Broadway debut and that one time the local news interviewed him at a tap-dancing competition when he was twelve. Interviews never failed to make him unbelievably anxious, and he’d even had an anxiety attack at a job interview once. Taking that into account, he didn’t know why he had agreed when his agent asked him if he’d be interested in being featured in a small newspaper. Then again, he had never been very good at saying no.<br/>~<br/>Or, New York journalist Kevin Price has a new assignment: write a feature story about Broadway star Connor McKinley.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Arnold Cunningham/Nabulungi Hatimbi (mentioned), Elder "Connor" McKinley/Kevin Price</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Written Romance [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1877470</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Newspaper Clippings</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hey there! i'm ellie and this is my first endeavor into writing book of mormon fanfiction! i saw the show on tour in january this year, then i got my first journalism state championship in feature writing and ever since the idea of writing something journalistic about mckinley his been floating around inside my head. after tweaking the concept a bit, i finally sat down and wrote it this past week, so here it is!</p>
<p>quick introduction, this is set in a world where kevin and arnold went on their mission just like in the show, while connor stayed in the united states. it's a little exploration of kevin and connor meeting under different circumstances.</p>
<p>i hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It only took five minutes in a room with Kevin Price for one to learn just how much he loved his job. He hadn’t exactly planned to become a journalist (it was just the most interesting method he could find to use his communication degree), but he’d fallen in love with the profession from his first day in the newsroom. It took some time for him to figure out the type of articles he was best at writing, but after a few months in the field, he learned four things:</p>
<p>One: he absolutely sucked at sports journalism. He just wasn’t interested in sports enough to write compelling articles. The thought <em> why is anyone good at sports? </em> often crossed his mind when he had a sports assignment. The only journalistic thing he could do that was sports related was sports photography.</p>
<p>Two: he loved photography. Being up close to the action of whatever event he may be covering was thrilling. It made him feel like he was a part of something.</p>
<p>Three: he was an excellent editorialist. Growing up as the ‘Poster Boy Mormon’ meant that he had always been rather opinionated, even if his opinions had changed since coming out as gay and leaving the church. His favorite thing was arriving to work in the morning and hearing about the various people who had complained about whatever strong opinion he had expressed in the previous morning’s post.</p>
<p>Four: he liked writing feature stories. He liked interviewing people and getting an inside look at their lives. And he was a good interviewer, partially due to the conversational skills he had picked up at the MTC. </p>
<p>And while Kevin was excited about any stories that were tossed his way, he was especially excited for the interview he had later that day. He was meeting a Broadway actor, Connor McKinley, at a coffee shop for an interview. Kevin had seen Connor perform twice, once as Prince Topher in Cinderella, and once as King George III in Hamilton. He was an excellent performer, and Kevin really thought he could write an excellent article about him. And okay, maybe he thought the actor was cute, but that didn’t matter. He was a professional, so the meeting was going to stay completely platonic. Not even platonic; no feelings needed to be involved at all. </p>
<p>With that resolution in mind, Kevin stood from his desk and slung his bag over his shoulder. He peeked into his editor’s office to check in before making the trek to Starbucks, repeating his pre-interview mantra of ‘<em>you’re a good interviewer, you’re a good interviewer, you’re a good interviewer</em>’ in his mind as he walked.</p>
<p>~*~</p>
<p>Connor had never done something like this before. The extent of his interview experience stretched to a handful of job interviews prior to his Broadway debut and that one time the local news interviewed him at a tap-dancing competition when he was twelve. Interviews never failed to make him unbelievably anxious, and he’d even had an anxiety attack at a job interview once. Taking that into account, he didn’t know why he had agreed when his agent asked him if he’d be interested in being featured in a small newspaper. Then again, he had never been very good at saying no. </p>
<p>It was for that reason that he was now standing near the entrance of a Starbucks, looking around for his interviewer as he fiddled with his keys. He didn’t know what Kevin Price looked like, but he hoped that the man knew how to find him (then again, the interview not happening wouldn’t be the worst thing). He was lost in his thoughts when a voice to his left startled him back to alertness.</p>
<p>“Connor?” the stranger tilted his head and offered a warm smile and a hand to shake, “I’m Kevin Price.”</p>
<p>“Oh-” Connor took a moment to respond, shocked to find that Kevin was unbelievably attractive. For reasons he couldn’t explain, he’d pictured Kevin older, and not very attractive. Not like the handsome stranger standing before him, “yeah- hi- I’m Connor. Hi.” he stuck out his hand and shook Kevin’s, opting to ignore the chills that spread down his spine when they made contact.</p>
<p>“Hey,” Kevin laughed softly as he gestured to a nearby table, “does this table work for you?” When he received affirmation, he took a seat and set his news bag on the table, carefully unpacking his notepad, pens, and prized voice recorder. He fiddled with the device before setting it in the middle of the table. He pressed a button to start recording (after receiving permission to record, of course) and looked up to meet Connor’s eyes.</p>
<p>“Alright, first of all, what’s your name and how do you spell it?” Kevin flipped open the notepad as he spoke, holding his pen to write. Connor furrowed his eyebrows in confusion: he and Kevin had emailed, so surely the other man knew his name. Kevin seemed to sense Connor’s thoughts, and offered a tiny smile, “it’s the first question you ask in any journalistic interview. You never know if someone might spell their name weirdly.”</p>
<p>“Oh, right. Okay. Uh- it’s Connor McKinley,” he spelled out the name, watching as Kevin rapidly scribbled across the top of his page. </p>
<p>“Alright, Connor,” Kevin didn’t look up from his book as he spoke, and Connor couldn’t help wondering if the notes he was taking were even legible, “can you tell me a bit about your Broadway debut?”</p>
<p>A bright smile spread across Connor’s face at the question. He remembered his debut clear as day, from the stage manager telling him that the actor who played Prince Topher had called out and Connor would be going on as his standby, to meeting fans at the stagedoor who congratulated him on making his debut. He regaled Kevin with the story, finding that his speech came easily in the moment. </p>
<p>“What’s weird is that the part I remember most is being terrified that my crown was going to fall off during Ten Minutes Ago,” he finished with a laugh that Kevin reciprocated. There was a brief pause as Kevin jotted down a few more notes before the brunette looked up to meet Connor’s eyes. </p>
<p><em> Holy shit </em>. Connor hadn’t realized how amazing Kevin’s eyes were. On the surface they seemed to be plain brown eyes, but Connor thought the color was strikingly similar to that of the filling of a cinnamon roll, and they sparkled when the light hit them just right. He was so caught up in Kevin’s face that he completely missed the question he had been asked.</p>
<p>“Sorry, could you- could you repeat that?”</p>
<p>“I asked how you ended up in New York and on Broadway.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Connor could feel his cheeks heat up, and could only imagine how red his face must’ve looked. “I was raised Mormon, but I’m gay, so when I graduated high school, I told my parents that I didn’t want to go on my mission. I came out and got kicked out, but luckily, I had a scholarship to NYU. So, I moved to the city and got my BFA. I did a bunch of regional theatre and got my equity card while I worked nights at a hotel. It was miserable, but then I was cast as a swing in the National tour of Cinderella. I was on tour for a couple months and then the Prince Topher standby on Broadway put in his notice and they offered the position to me. So, I came back to New York and joined the Broadway cast.”</p>
<p>Kevin reached out and hit the pause button on his voice recording, sending Connor into a momentary panic that he had done something wrong and ruined the interview.</p>
<p>“You were Mormon?”</p>
<p>“Y-yeah? Born and raised. Why?”</p>
<p>Kevin’s face broke out into a grin, “I was raised Mormon, too, that’s all. I haven’t actually met many other ex-Mormons. Just my best friend, Arnold.”</p>
<p>Connor had to take a moment to process this new information. Kevin Price, the immensely hot guy interviewing him for the newspaper, used to be Mormon. <em> What the fuck? </em></p>
<p>“That’s crazy,” he smiled softly, still a bit shocked at this new revelation, “can I ask- sorry- uh, why did you leave the church?”</p>
<p>Kevin’s face fell slightly, “well, I went on my mission. Two years in Uganda. It was awful. The country is torn apart by war and disease. It just felt so unfair and I kinda just… lost my faith. Not completely, like, I still believe that God exists. I just hate organized religion and I don’t think any church really has a belief system that I believe in. Especially not churches that discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community, since I’m gay. So, Arnold- he was my mission companion- and I came home, along with Arnold’s wife, Nabulungi, and left the church.”</p>
<p>Connor’s jaw could’ve been on the ground. That was definitely not the story he had been expecting to hear. He had a dozen questions racing through his mind as he and Kevin sat opposite one another. About his beliefs, about life in a foreign country, about his mission in general. Despite the sea of questions in his head, he could only form one coherent sentence.</p>
<p>“You’re gay?”</p>
<p>Connor’s face turned bright red as soon as the words left his mouth. That was <em> not </em> what he had meant to say. At all. He opened his mouth to apologize when Kevin did something that surprised him.</p>
<p>He laughed. He laughed and nodded, running a hand through his hair in a way that could’ve made Connor melt if he hadn’t been so mortified.</p>
<p>“I’m gay. Well- I’m homoromantic. And asexual. But gay.” Connor nodded along to Kevin’s explanation, trying to decide what to say next when Kevin reached out and pressed the record button on his device.</p>
<p>“Let’s continue the interview, yeah?”</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah. Totally. Let’s.”</p>
<p>~*~ </p>
<p>
  <b>McKinley Dazzles the Great White Way</b>
</p>
<p>
  <em> A coffee conversation with Broadway’s newest King George III </em>
</p>
<p>
  <b> <em>By Kevin Price</em> </b>
</p>
<p>For most New Yorkers, Broadway is a bragging point, an attraction, and a destination for a good night. For Broadway star Connor McKinley, however, it’s home. McKinley, who made his Broadway debut as a standby in <em> Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella </em> , has made the transition from prince to king and is currently starring as King George III in <em> Hamilton. </em> Achieving his dream was not an easy accomplishment for McKinley, who had to overcome difficulties placed upon him by both himself and the community he grew up in.</p>
<p>“I grew up in Oklahoma City,” McKinley said, “which is one of the most Conservative cities in the United States. That, paired with being raised Mormon, gave me a lot of internalized homophobia that I had to deal with.” Over the course of his childhood and teen years, McKinley convinced himself that his gay thoughts could simply be turned off, and he’d be able to be the good Mormon boy that his parents had raised him to be.</p>
<p>He quickly realized this was not the case.</p>
<p>“I was miserable,” said McKinley, “I was spending all this time trying to pretend that I could be someone I wasn’t and still be happy. But it had the opposite effect. I had to deal with a lot of self-loathing and internalized homophobia before I could come out.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t until McKinley had an openly gay teacher his sophomore year of high school that he was able to begin to slowly accept himself for who he was. He still dealt with a great amount of ‘Mormon guilt,’ but by the end of his junior year, he had a much clearer sense of who he was.</p>
<p>“Coming out was terrifying,” said McKinley, “but my parents were expecting me to go on my mission, and I knew that I couldn’t go through with it.” He came out to a less-than joyous response and ended up being kicked out of his parents’ house. He relocated to New York, attending NYU on a scholarship.</p>
<p>Four years later, McKinley graduated college and began auditioning, all while working a job at night to support himself.</p>
<p>“I thought that if I worked nights, my days would be open for auditions,” McKinley said, “but I was really just so exhausted that I wouldn’t be able to function well at the auditions.” Despite the difficulties, McKinley stuck with the job until he finally booked a job as a swing in the National tour of <em> Cinderella </em>. After just two months with the tour, he transferred to Broadway as a standby for the role of Prince Topher, making his Broadway debut in December 2014. He stayed with the production until it closed in January 2015.</p>
<p>“After that, I went back to the tour, playing the prince full time, and then I did a few more off-Broadway and regional shows. I just focused on building up my resume until I got a call from my agent.” McKinley’s agent informed him that the actor currently playing King George III in <em> Hamilton </em> had put in his notice, and McKinley was asked to come in for an audition. Three weeks later, he was in rehearsals for a supporting role in the biggest show on Broadway.</p>
<p>For McKinley, the difficulties he faced to reach this point in his career have been completely worth it. He’s incredibly grateful for all the opportunities he’s been presented with.</p>
<p>“Growing up was hard,” said McKinley, “but I came out the other side a caring, hard-working person, and I was able to achieve my dream by not giving up. I’m proud of who I am and the life I get to lead, it just took me a while to get there.”</p>
<p>McKinley can currently be seen starring as King George III in <em> Hamilton </em>. Lucky ticket holders can expect to see him in the role for the next six months.</p>
<p> ~*~</p>
<p>Connor wasn’t sure what exactly had brought him back to the Starbucks he’d met Kevin in. It wasn’t the shop he normally frequented before his trek to the Richard Rogers, but after the article about him had been published, he felt like he needed to go back. He clutched the newspaper in his hands, his picture staring back at him as he sat at one of the tables. He’d already read the article several times, but he kept coming back to it. Mostly due to disbelief that there was an article <em> about him </em> in a newspaper. Anybody in New York could be reading about him at that very moment. He didn’t know how to feel about that.</p>
<p>“Like the article?”</p>
<p>  Connor nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice interrupted his reading. He slowly looked up to meet the eyes of none other than Kevin Price himself. He felt his face heat up as he forced a nod.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” he mustered, “it’s really well written… kinda crazy, actually. That something about me is actually in the newspaper.”</p>
<p>Kevin nodded understandingly, “yeah, it’s weird. Even for me. Seeing my name in the by-line of an article always throws me for a loop- can I sit?” He gestured to the chair opposite Connor, a lopsided smile on his face, “unless you’re expecting someone.”</p>
<p>“No, no,” Connor said hurriedly, folding up the newspaper and shoving it in his bag, “go ahead. I’m just grabbing a coffee before I head to the theatre.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Kevin nodded as he sat down, setting his drink down on the table, “how long do you have until you have to be there?”</p>
<p>“Well, I have twenty minutes until half-hour, which is when we have to get to the theatre,” Connor sounded almost apologetic as he spoke, “but I’m not on until eighteen minutes into the show, so I can cut it pretty close without having to worry about being late.” He knew he was over-explaining, but part of him wanted Kevin to know that he had plenty of time to talk.</p>
<p>All Kevin offered in response was a smile and nod, accompanied by a sip of his coffee. They sat in silence for a few minutes, simply sipping their drinks until Kevin spoke.</p>
<p>“What are you drinking?”</p>
<p>“Vanilla latte. You?”</p>
<p>“Black coffee.”</p>
<p>“Nice.”</p>
<p>“Yeah…” Kevin set his cup down before meeting Connor’s eyes, “did you really like the article? Because it’s really okay if you didn’t, I probably could’ve written it much better. In fact, I definitely could’ve, because-”</p>
<p>“Kevin.” Connor’s voice was firm in a way that surprised even himself, and he reached across the table to rest his hand on top of Kevin’s, “it’s a great article, really. I wouldn’t have wanted anybody else telling my story.”</p>
<p>And it didn’t take a close connection for Connor to see how much the words meant to Kevin, who’s eyes softened as he smiled. He didn’t speak, but Connor could see the <em> thank you </em> in his eyes. Connor simply nodded in response, and the pair fell silent once again, only this time it was more comfortable than it was awkward. Connor kept his hand on top of Kevin’s, opting to use his non-dominant hand to drink his latte and scroll through Twitter.</p>
<p>Five minutes later, Connor pulled his hand back and tossed his empty cup into the nearby trash can. “I should get to the theatre now,” he spoke up, pushing himself to his feet. He didn’t want to leave Kevin’s oddly comforting company, but he also didn’t want to be late for work.</p>
<p>“Alright,” Kevin nodded, standing up as well, “I’m heading that direction, too. Would you want to walk together?”</p>
<p>“Sure,” Connor grinned as he slung his bag over his shoulder, “that sounds great.”</p>
<p>And so they went. There was a companionable silence between the two of them as they walked, their shoulders brushing every so often. Connor threw caution to the wind, nudging Kevin’s hand with his pinkie finger. Kevin responded in kind, then linked their pinkies. They stayed like that for a minute or so before, in another moment of uncharacteristic courage, Connor took the leap and shifted his hand to intertwine his fingers with Kevin’s. It was bliss. Short-lived, but bliss nonetheless.</p>
<p>Connor dropped Kevin’s hand when they reached the Richard Rogers, turning to face him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, creating a contact card and passing it to Kevin.</p>
<p>“I’ll text you?”</p>
<p>“Sounds great,” Kevin replied softly as he typed in his number and handed the phone back to Connor, who quickly typed a text:</p>
<p>
  <em> This is Connor :) </em>
</p>
<p>“Well,” Connor sighed softly, “I should get inside now. Bye, Kevin.”</p>
<p>Kevin grinned and leaned forward, planting a soft kiss on Connor’s cheek before turning to leave, “bye, Connor.”</p>
<p>Connor lifted a hand to his cheek, a brilliant smile blooming across his face as he entered the theatre.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you for reading! i'm currently working on two more installments in this universe, so hopefully they'll see the light of day. you can find me on tumblr @lovetodanceandshout or @proudriffs!</p>
<p>fun fact! all of the journalism skills and things that kevin does are actual things i’ve learned over my three years of high school journalism. especially asking for the spelling of the name of the person you’re interviewing. </p>
<p>as for the roles i chose for connor to play: andy huntington jones, the mckinley i saw and spoke to when i saw bom live, played prince topher  in cinderella, so i thought i’d throw that in as a part for connor. him playing the king in hamilton comes from rory o’malley being the third broadway and first tour king. later installments may mention other roles connor in this universe has played, and almost every one of them has been played by an actor who has played mckinley.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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